Aaron's Magic Village
Aaron's Magic Village (also known as The Real Shlemiel) is a 1995 animated film based on the stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Cast Singing cast *Tommy J. Michaels - Aaron *Ronn Carroll - Uncle Shlemiel *Tovah Feldshuh - Zlateh the Goat/Aunt Sarah/The Matchmaker *Ivy Austin - The Lantuch *Harry Goz - Gronam Ox *Lee Wilkof - Sender/Tudras *Chip Zien - Treitel/The Donkey *Larry Keith - Schmendrick/Voiceover *Lewis J. Stadlen - Lekish/Zeinvel/The Peddler *Laura Dean - Dana *Margery Gray - Dina *Julia Murney - Dona Non-singing cast *Fyvush Finkel - Narrator *Stephen D. Newman - Darko the Sorcerer Synopsis When God distributed wiseness and foolishness through a newly created world, one of the cherubs accidentally dropped all the foolishness on a tiny village called Chelm. So everyone in the village is very dumb. Recently orphaned boy Aaron and his friendly goat Zlateh live there with Aaron's uncle Shlemiel. When an evil sorcerer and his monster attack the village, Aaron and Zlateh have to defend it themselves. Plot After creating the world, God sends three angels to distribute intelligence, wisdom, and foolishness across it, but one of the angels accidentally tears the bag of foolishness on a tree causing it all to fall on the village of Chelm. As a result, all its inhabitants are dimwitted (though believing themselves to be very wise). A recently orphaned boy named Aaron moves to Chelm with his talking goat Zlateh to live with his uncle Shlemiel, his aunt Sarah, and his three cousins Dina, Dana, and Dona. When Aaron tells Sarah that Zlateh doesn't give milk, Sarah tells him to sell her. Aaron is introduced to other foolish villagers of Chelm, such as Sender the cobbler, Treitel the tailor, and Schmendrick the carpenter. At a nearby castle, an evil sorcerer named Darko creates a golem out of clay and water with the intent of destroying Chelm, but to bring the golem to life he needs the Book of Marvels, which is kept in Chelm. Because Shlemiel is poor and now has another mouth to feed, he asks the village rabbi and mayor, Gronam, for a raise. Gronam instead tells him to marry off his daughters so he'll only have Sarah and Aaron to provide for, which is believed to make him rich. Darko's fox overhears Shlemiel talking about this plan, so Darko poses as a female matchmaker and offers three rich but fictitious sons to Shlemiel in exchange for the Book of Marvels. Shlemiel refuses, so Darko angrily reveals his true identity and causes a blizzard. Aaron gets caught in the blizzard on his way to sell Zlateh, and they take cover in a haystack. Aaron loses his bag of biscuits, and the storm blows a magical imp called the Lantuch into the haystack, hitting his head against Aaron's which causes the Lantuch to lose his memory, casting all his spells wrong. When he casts a spell with the intent of finding Aaron's biscuits, he instead gives Zlateh the ability to give milk, so when Aaron returns, Sarah decides to keep her. When the village fisherman catches a carp for food, it attacks Gronam, who decides that it is fresh and must be punished. Until he decides the sentence, he gives the carp to Shlemiel to feed. Shlemiel tells Gronam that a sorcerer is after the Book of Marvels. Gronam takes the Book out of its vault and entrusts it to Shlemiel for protection. Darko commands his fox to inform him where Shlemiel hides the Book. Shlemiel hides it back in its vault and keeps the key in his shoe. On his way to Warsaw to find husbands for his daughters, Shlemiel takes a nap, pointing his shoes towards Warsaw to remember which way to go when he wakes up. Darko's fox steals the key and mischievously points Shlemiel's shoes toward Chelm so he'll go back the way he came. With the key in hand, Darko steals the Book of Marvels. Shlemiel returns to Chelm due to the fox's trick, and mistakes it for a second version of the village on the way to Warsaw. Sarah thinks he's gone crazy, but Gronam believes that there are two Chelms. Aaron, however, is sure that the Shlemiel before them is the real Shlemiel. Darko brings the golem to life and orders it to destroy all of Chelm. The golem demolishes all the buildings except the synagogue, sparing it because it is sacred, much to Darko's anger. Gronam tells Aaron that if the golem lives past the Sabbath, it will live forever, and the world will be destroyed. The key to killing the golem is inside the Book of Marvels. As the villagers try to decide what to do, Aaron, Zlateh, and the Lantuch follow the golem's tracks to Darko's castle. Aaron finds the Book of Marvels and reads how to destroy the golem, also confirming that what Gronam said was true, but the Lantuch casts another spell gone wrong which alerts Darko. The golem gives the Book back to him, but Zlateh attacks the sorcerer, causing the book to fall into the fire. Aaron and his team escape the castle, and Darko sends the golem after them. The golem has a change of heart due to Aaron's courage, and when Darko causes a rockslide, the golem protects Aaron. The Lantuch is hit on the head by a rock, regains his memory, and turns Darko to stone. Aaron is reluctant to kill the golem after he saved his life, but both he and the golem know it has to be done to save the world, so he does so by erasing the first letter on the golem's head. After a victory celebration in Chelm, Gronam sentences the carp to die by drowning. Shlemiel throws the carp into the river, and foolishly believes it to have drowned. Then the villagers move to different locations in the world since Chelm is destroyed, with Shlemiel declaring that he and his family are going to "Chelm #1". Goofs *When Schmendrick makes the table too short and the chair too tall and wobbly, Zlateh says "Why should a table be steady?" even though it is the chair that is wobbly. *Aaron lost his bag of biscuits in the storm, apparently before entering the haystack. However, he still has his bag when he enters the haystack. Musical numbers *"Remember" - Aaron and Zlateh *"A Credit to Chelm" - Uncle Shlemiel, Aaron, Tudras, Treitel, Schmendrick, Aunt Sarah and Lekish *"The Wisest of the Wise" - Gronam Ox, Uncle Shlemiel, Tudras, Treitel, Schmendrick and Zeinvel *"I'll Be Rich" - Uncle Shlemiel *"The Dumbest of the Dumb" - The Donkey and Zlateh *"I'm a Lantuch" - The Lantuch *"A Husband" - Dana, Dina, Dona and the Peddler Category: Animated films